Sexual Assault Referral Centres

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 1:54 pm on 20 October 2021.

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Photo of Jane Hutt Jane Hutt Labour 1:54, 20 October 2021

Diolch yn fawr, Mabon ap Gwynfor, and thank you for putting that focus on our SARC programme. It is so important that we do have that access to sexual assault referral centres across the whole of Wales, and focusing particularly on rural Wales and north Wales, where you, obviously, are the representative. We do have robust collaborative working arrangements to ensure that there is that multi-agency response, which I know you recognise is crucial. We have a programme board, which oversees this in terms of the SARC provision across Wales. It's hosted in the NHS collaborative and, of course, it's all aiming to improve health outcomes for victims and survivors of sexual assault. The programme is actually based on a regional approach, so I will take this back in terms of the representations you're making today. We do have an integrated service already available in north Wales, but I think it's your points about distance and access to accredited facilities, for example, that are crucially important. I'll just, perhaps, also mention that this is something where we have a new regional hub being developed here in Cardiff, but that can be a model for the rest of Wales.